Mobile communication devices are continually increasing in popularity. Such mobile communication devices include, for example and without limitation, cellular phones, paging devices, portable email devices, and personal digital assistants. Mobile communication devices provide the user with the capability to conduct communications while moving through a variety of environments.
Mobile communication devices typically operate utilizing portable and finite power supplies. Various methods and mechanisms have been developed to operate mobile communication devices in energy-efficient manners. For example, mobile communication devices may be operated in various sleep modes. In one exemplary illustration, a mobile communication device (or portion thereof) may operate in a sleep mode where the mobile communication device occasionally wakes up to determine if there is a communication network available and/or if there are currently messages awaiting delivery to the mobile communication device. In such exemplary sleep mode operation, the mobile communication device wakes up and fully receives and processes communication signals (e.g., through the entire receive path of the mobile communication device. Such full reception and processing expends finite energy resources, even in scenarios where there is no network available for the mobile communication device.